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Attendance Figures for 1913 and 1938 Gettysburg Reunions

For those who may be interested, these are the attendance figures for the 1913 (50th) and 1938 (75th) veterans reunions at Gettysburg as published in the official reports of the Pennsylvania Commission:

Attendance at Gettysburg Reunions

1913

1938

(50th Anniversary)

(75th Anniversary)

Residence

#

Union+Conf.

#

Union+Conf.

Alabama

200

(0+200)

26

(6+20)

Arizona

10

(7+3)

6

(4+2)

Arkansas

75

(50+25)

51

(19+32)

California

100

(90+10)

150

(145+5)

Colorado

12

(11+1)

26

(23+3)

Connecticut

350

(350+0)

8

(8+0)

Delaware

316

(303+13)

2

(2+0)

District of Columbia

485

(380+105)

4

(1+3)

Florida

150

(0+150)

48

(29+19)

Georgia

285

(35+250)

60

(7+53)

Idaho

45

(45+0)

8

(7+1)

Illinois

465

(450+15)

95

(95+0)

Indiana

565

(540+25)

89

(87+2)

Iowa

364

(360+4)

46

(46+0)

Kansas

130

(125+5)

69

(64+5)

Kentucky

100

(75+25)

28

(21+7)

Louisiana

125

(0+125)

27

(10+17)

Maine

543

(540+3)

14

(14+0)

Maryland

1080

(800+280)

22

(21+1)

Massachusetts

1700

(1600+100)

23

(23+0)

Michigan

844

(830+14)

54

(54+0)

Minnesota

422

(400+22)

30

(30+0)

Mississippi

120

(0+120)

41

(6+35)

Missouri

422

(250+172)

79

(70+9)

Montana

22

(14+8)

7

(5+2)

Nebraska

238

(230+8)

26

(24+2)

Nevada

0

(0+0)

1

(1+0)

New Hampshire

750

(740+10)

7

(7+0)

New Jersey

2909

(2800+109)

23

(23+0)

New Mexico

1

(1+0)

5

(4+1)

New York

8500

(8440+60)

80

(80+0)

North Carolina

1265

(0+1265)

38

(2+36)

North Dakota

165

(162+3)

2

(1+1)

Ohio

1000

(900+100)

103

(102+1)

Oklahoma

135

(87+48)

63

(32+31)

Oregon

82

(75+7)

26

(25+1)

Pennsylvania

22103

(21800+303)

115

(115+0)

Rhode Island

377

(370+7)

0

(0+0)

South Carolina

369

(68+301)

19

(1+18)

South Dakota

125

(121+4)

14

(14+0)

Tennessee

300

(0+300)

31

(15+16)

Texas

130

(0+130)

130

(13+117)

Utah

76

(67+9)

5

(5+0)

Vermont

669

(665+4)

5

(5+0)

Veteran Signal Corps

63

(63+0)

0

(0+0)

Virginia

3278

(50+3228)

46

(7+39)

Washington

167

(152+15)

37

(34+3)

West Virginia

1125

(562+563)

21

(12+9)

Wisconsin

650

(625+25)

31

(31+0)

Wyoming

0

(0+0)

1

(1+0)

Canada

0

(0+0)

3

(3+0)

TOTAL:

53407

(45233+8174)

1845

(1354+491)

Note that the official attendance figures are based on the residence of each veteran in 1913 and 1938 – not on the State from which they served during the war. But the numbers in parentheses further break it down to show how many had fought for the Union vs. Confederate armies.

So while 285 veterans travelled from Georgia for the 1913 reunion, 35 of them had fought for the Union army.

Some other interesting observations:

It is not surprising that Confederate veterans were greatly outnumbered at both reunions since they were commemorating the anniversary of a Confederate loss in “Northern” territory. But while Confederate veterans represented 15.3% (8174/53407) of the attending veterans in 1913, that number jumped to 26.6% (491/1845) in 1938.

Of the 48 States that existed at the time, all but Nevada and Wyoming were represented in 1913 and all but Rhode Island were represented in 1938.

The two States with the highest number of veterans attending the 1913 reunion were Pennsylvania (22103 veterans or 41.3%) and New York (8500 veterans or 15.9%). But in 1938, the two States with the highest attendance were California (150 veterans or 8.1%) and Texas (130 veterans or 7.0%)!